Do you and your cat(s) have a mealtime ritual?

Tito, Sophie and I have really gotten their dinnertime rituals down pat now that the move is over with. It's the same every day, usually at the exact same times each day (unless I sleep in, like I did yesterday!!). :p I know to some of you all this might sound boring and not worth reading, but it fills me with happiness every day, and I'd like to share it with you all.

First, I begin by picking up both of the kitties' food and water bowls and washing them out at the kitchen sink with soap and hot water. I am sort of weird about their bowls being spotless all the time. The entire time I do this, Tito sits and my feet and meows loudly and persistently (as if it will get him fed faster) and Sophie hangs out on the kitchen "table," which apparently was put there exculsively for her use(!) :rolleyes: like this:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d/f7bdd5a7.jpg

She's well behaved and quiet as a mouse, unlike SOME kitties:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...0/f84120f5.jpg

Anyway, Tito's begging continues as I carefully measure out his food (he's on diet food) and fill up his water bowl. Then I give him his food to shut him up - he inhales it immediately. Sophie's gets measured out next (she's still on yummy kitten food). Seeing me pick up her bowl, she squeaks (she sounds like a bird, honestly!) and hightails it down the hall to our bedroom. She has to eat in there with the door shut, or else Tito will come in when he's done with his food and eat all of her food too. :rolleyes: I usually try to leave her in there for at least half an hour. When I go in later to check on her (while holding Tito back at the door - he's dying to rush in and check out her bowl) she's always asleep on our bed. This is when she's the sweetest. We usually have at least five minutes of snuggle time - she's content, sleepy, and has a full belly and is super cute. Meanwhile, Tito is crying at the door to be let in. I swear he has a food fixation. You'd think I starve him. So, after Sophie and I are done, I pick up her bowl and go into the kitchen to put whatever she didn't eat back in the bag (she's not a big eater, like Tito). I come back into the bedroom, and Tito is sniffing around Sophie's eating area for any crumbs. I put the bowl down and Tito licks the bottom of it. :rolleyes: Sophie, meanwhile, has usually become playful again and is pouncing on some invisible thing on the floor (thank goodness she protects me from the evil carpet monster!) :)

So that was my long-winded story about how much I love feeding my kitties - even if it is a big ordeal twice a day. :p

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...5/f8c2bee5.jpg

Generally,in the morning,and at night,I will go to the Six Feeding Stations,and put fresh food in,as the Found Cats,love Food,when its fresh! The Odd Thing,is that two,of the Stions ,will e empty,and the other Four Untouched,and its the Same FOOD!

The ritual for Remus is pretty simple:

Morning:

Remus jumps on my face and does the Cat-a-comb thing *boy does that wake you up!* and I get up and get ready for work. He KNOWS his food doesn't get served until after Im dressed but it doesn't stop him from being my little "helper" in trying to get me to get ready faster!

Night:

Right after I take my evening shower after work. Again he tries his darndest to help me get done quicker so he can eat! *usually falling in the shower in the process*

Well, not so much a meal time ritual but how about a making the hubby lunch ritual.

I make Mark's lunches everynight for the next day after we have dinner. So the ritual is this. About 6:00pm, right after dinner, I usually hear the pitter patter of little feet down the stairs. Smokey comes into the kitchen and will sit in the middle of the floor. I then go outside and call for Mystic and Abner so they do not miss out on the lunch making.

I next get the bread....and that's when it all begins....MEW, MEOW, MEEP, BRUUUP, MROW, etc....I think most of you get the picture. Next I get the turkey out of the fridge and the talking continues and gets much louder. Turkey is then dispensed to each individual kitty, Smokey, Mystic, and Abner all eat from the kitchen floor and Tigger eats from the kitchen counter. Tucker, if she is around prefers her meal in the back deck.

Mystic is always the first one done...then she goes and tries to steal Turkey from Abner...in which she is successful. We call Mystic the HOOVER.....she eats her food so fast you would think she has a vacuum head attached to her mouth.

Then she tries to get some from Smokey....which she is very unsuccessful...Smokey does not share with anyone!!! Smokey is also the slowest turkey eater but we call him the floor cleaner because with him around you never have any turkey left on the floor.

Since my cats are confined to one room during the day, the ritual is a little different.

First they have to body-slam the door to let me know they really can't wait any longer. Then when I open the door, a few have to see if they can find the dogs and get chased back in the bedroom. Meanwhile, I'm standing in the doorway with a try of little dishes, trying to prevent any more escapes. Three of them head for their feeding stations while the other four do their best to trip me.

Every morning and every night!

Mary

My cats are free fed, so there's really no "ritual" per se.... But if they're feeder thingy is empty, BOY do I hear about it! I go into the kitchen in the morning and I've got at least 5 cats SCREAMING at me!

"Food! We're hungry! We haven't eaten in HOURS!" rrreeeoooowwwwrrrrr..... mew mew mew..... MEW... RRRREEEEOOOOWWWWRRRRRR..... MAEW MAEW....

Then as I go into the other room to get their food i'm tripping over kittens, usually have Hector attached to my leg (thankfully I wear long sleeping pants!), then they climb the bookshelves and stay there hollering until I stumble my way back to the kitchen. :rolleyes:

Skinny does the try to flip the dish over or at least get it out in middle of the room, so Mom notices that there is NO food in the dish.

When I'm cooking dinner it's time for kittys to eat. If I start something earlier than 5 p.m. for dinner they get upset. LOL
All 3 kids end up in the kitchen looking pathic at me with sad eyes. You'd think I was starving them. NOT.

As if type this Skinny is letting me know the dish in computer room is empty. :)

They have two dishes that get 1/2 cup in each 2x a day (7-8 am) (5-6)pm. and little treat at night to tide them over. This feeds 3 kittys :)

Mornings:
They are fed between 5:45 and 6:00 am. They get a measured amount of dry food.

Evenings:
They have canned food when I get home at 5:00 after work. Feeding the cats is one of the first things I do.

As soon as my alarm goes off, if not before, Julie starts in pacing back and forth from the kitchen to the bedroom telling me its time to cover up the kitty face in the bottom of her bowl. Since she only eats dry food I don't need to mess with cans or packages. She won't touch anything but her dry food and her cat grass.
So she gets her little scoop in the morning to carry her throughout the day.

She is on weight management food because she was getting a bit plush...she is just right now.

When I pull into the garage in the afternoon she is waiting patiently on her table, looking adorable I might add. She has to have her dish up on a little table in the kitchen or Buddy will chow down on her food.
I give her her second little scoop and pet her back a few strokes as she nibbles away. She gets elevator butt when I do that.

She and Buddy had separate water bowls but I realized they both drank out of the same on all the time so I ditched hers.

Buddy has an auto feeder because he is a nibbler. She doesn't bother his food at all, but he can't resist hers.

we all dash into the kitchen first thing.....they free feed......they like to watch the putting down of food/water......they kinda supervise as it were.....definately clean bowls each time, definately fresh food each time.......same thing in p.m.